Sep 06 2026 to Sep 06 2026 noon

Where

Bangalore International Centre

7 4th Main Rd, Stage 2, Domlur 560071

Event Description

Every child has the right to read stories that are both familiar and new, in a language they understand and call their own. This International Literacy Day, this panel brings together three individuals working across the reading ecosystem to explore what it takes to make this a reality, from creating books and empowering local voices, to building the pathways that bring stories into children’s hands.

As part of One Day, One Story (ODOS), Pratham Books’ nationwide celebration of India’s linguistic diversity, the conversation will explore how stories in children’s own languages can help create a more inclusive culture of reading. What does it really take to enable all of India’s children to read, and by extension, to dream?

This session is part of a two-part event on enabling children to read. The first session, “Let’s Fall in Love with Reading,” is an interactive storytelling session for children.

In collaboration with:

Speakers

Rohini Nilekani
Philanthropist & Author
Rohini Nilekani is an author and philanthropist who has strongly influenced the Indian social sector over three decades. She is Chairperson of Rohini Nilekani Philanthropies and Co-founder and Director of EkStep, a nonprofit education platform; she founded Arghyam, a water and sanitation foundation, and co-founded Pratham Books, a nonprofit children’s publisher. A former journalist, she has written for publications including The Times of India, India Today and Mint. Penguin Books India published her books Stillborn and Uncommon Ground, and she self-published Samaaj, Sarkaar, Bazaar, alongside ninteen children’s books, including the Sringeri Srinivas series.

Nagakarthik M P
Founder, Sauramandala Foundation
Nagakarthik MP founded Sauramandala Foundation, a ground-up problem-solving organisation working with government systems across the Northeastern states. His favourite project is The Forgotten Folklore Project — sixty-six illustrated children’s books in Khasi, Garo, Pnar, and English, created with local authors, illustrators, village elders, and schoolkids from the Khasi, Jaintia, and Garo Hills, capturing living root bridges, forest folklore, local games, and community memory.

Uma Mahadevan Dasgupta
Additional Chief Secretary & Development Commissioner, Government of Karnataka
Uma Mahadevan Dasgupta currently serves as the Additional Chief Secretary and Development Commissioner in the Government of Karnataka. She has over 34 years’ experience in diverse sectors at the state and central government. One of her focus areas in recent years has been the revitalisation of rural public libraries across Karnataka. She has been a member of the Government of India taskforce on early childhood care and education. She writes regularly on development issues.

Parul Bajaj
Programme Lead, IIM Bangalore
Dreaming & building quality educational ecosystems is what keeps Parul going. Making this a reality for all of India’s young requires collective action and facilitating that comes naturally to her. An alumnus of Delhi Institute of Technology and Indian Institute of Management Bangalore, she has worked with social enterprises, civil society organizations and philanthropy foundations to strengthen access and quality of education. She led Parag, a longstanding program of Tata Trusts to bolster the children’s books world through grant making and direct work. She is presently back to her alma-mater IIM Bangalore building institute’s foray into undergraduate education – IIMB-Dorabji Tata School of Undergraduate Studies